“One day more,” said Cinnamon Swirl to his wife in a sing-songy voice, “and we’ll have our first adventure together. Excited?”
“A little,” replied Love Tap, “but to be honest, I’m a lot more nervous than I thought I was going to be.”
“Haven’t you always wanted to actually see the places that you’ve only read about?”
“I have, but now, now, it’s not just talk. Now, it’s the real thing.”
“A lot different than just reading about it, isn’t it?”
Love Tap nodded with uncertainty.
“Well, believe it or not, that’s exactly how I felt the first time I got on a boat.”
Suddenly, the couple was interrupted by a loud, forceful knocking on the front door of their manor.
“Now, who could that be?” asked Cinnamon, getting up to answer the door.
Cinnamon opened the door to the scowling face of his old friend Scarlet Plume. Incidentally, she was going to be captaining the ship Cinnamon and Love Tap were going to be sailing off in tomorrow. Behind her, her husband Punch sat in his wheelchair, giving Cinnamon a sheepish smile.
“Hey, Scarlet,” Cinnamon stammered nervously.
“May we come in?” Scarlet practically growled.
“Uh, sure.”
“Scarlet, Punch,” Love Tap greeted enthusiastically, seeing their guests come in.
“Good evening, Love,” Scarlet greeted back as Love Tap got up and approached them. The two mares finished their greeting with a hug and a friendly peck on each cheek.
“We weren’t expected to see you until tomorrow,” said Love Tap.
“Neither were we,” replied Scarlet before turning to glare at Cinnamon Swirl, “but something came up.”
“Alright,” sighed Cinnamon. “What did I do this time?”
“Oh, nothing,” sarcasm and annoyance dripped from Scarlet’s voice like water on a torture victim’s forehead, “except tell my husband about the face!”
Cinnamon’s eyes and mouth widened in surprise. Once he composed himself, he turned to Punch and deadpanned, “You finally used it, didn’t you?”
“And, guess who’s coming with us on our trip tomorrow,” Scarlet continued to rant.
“Honey, I got the breaks on my wheelchair fixed and agreed to wear a lifejacket the whole time I’m on the ship,” Punch countered. “How bad can this trip turn out to be?”
“Besides,” Punch smirked flirtatiously at his wife. “You didn’t think I was just going to let you ride away from me on the sails of Destiny, did you?”
Scarlet clamped a hoof over her mouth, and her cheeks puffed out as if she was trying to hold something in. She took a few deep breaths before removing her hoof and allowing herself to speak.
“As charming as that is, I’m really not in the mood to be romanced right now,” she flatly stated.
“And don’t you mean the ‘winds of destiny’?” Love Tap corrected.
“No, I mean ‘the sails of Destiny’,” said Punch matter-of-factly.
Cinnamon Swirl’s eyes widened in realization before he groaned and put a hoof to his forehead. “Don’t tell me that’s how you got her to fall for you,” Cinnamon said to Punch.
“Okay, then, I won’t tell you,” Punch replied.
“Wha—? But…HOW?!”
Years earlier at the Marendelle docks, Scarlet Plume was tasked by her friend to keep watch of a blind beggar that he had given food and money to earlier. Cinnamon had promised to meet up with her later, but in the meantime, he had business with the king.
“Is he gone?” the beggar asked her.
“Who? Cinnamon?” Scarlet replied.
“Yes. Now, is he gone?” the beggar repeated urgently.
“Yeah, he’s gone, but why—?”
Scarlet’s question was cut off by the beggar removing his dark glasses and cloak, except that the blind beggar wasn’t a blind beggar at all. He was actually…
“Mr. Punch?” Scarlet cried incredulously.
“Sorry about the deception, Ms. Scarlet, but I was under orders,” Punch replied.
“I’m so confused.”
“Hello, So Confused. I’m Punch. If you see my friend Scarlet Plume, do you mind telling her that I need to tell her something?”
Scarlet could only raise her eyebrow at him quizzically while she sputtered like a fish freshly pulled from the water.
“What? Didn’t get the joke?”
“No, no,” said Scarlet. “I got the joke. It’s just that…Do you mind explaining the disguise?”
“The king asked me to dress as a beggar to test Princess Love Tap’s suitors on their willingness to help others,” Punch explained. “You should have seen how greedy and low some of her suitors are. The nerve! Taking advantage of a stallion’s nonexistent blindness like that!”
“But-but the king already gave Cinnamon a test,” pointed out Scarlet.
“Oh, he knows that. He’s just a little protective of his daughter. Apparently, he’s been raising her by himself since the mare was five.”
“That,” Scarlet paused before continuing, “actually explains a lot.”
“I have to ask though. How did Lord Cinnamon Swirl get so close to the princess anyway?”
“Oh, we docked here in the middle of a storm and took shelter at the castle.”
“Ah, so Destiny brought the two of you here then?”
“If you can call it destiny.”
“Oh, I’m sure it was Destiny,” Punch smirked at her as he talked.
“Oh really?” Scarlet challenged. “And how are you so sure?”
Punch smugly pointed a hoof towards Scarlet’s ship, specifically at the plaque containing the ship’s name. The plaque read “S.S. Destiny.” Scarlet’s eyes widened, and in spite of herself, she began chuckling heartily.
“Wow,” she gasped. “Oh my.”
“What?” asked Punch.
“I just realized that that’s the first time I’ve laughed, really, really laughed since, well, practically forever.”
“You’ve never…” Punch stuttered. “But…WHY?!”
“Well, it’s kind of hard to laugh when all the jokes you’ve heard have been about you.”
Punch gasped melodramatically and got into a mock boxing stance. Then, he said in an obviously fake gruff sailor’s voice, “Where’s thee scoundrel who’s been making jokes about ye? Ye just point and ah’ll give ‘im the ole wax on, wax off. Me name’s not Punch fer nuthin’.”
Scarlet doubled over in laughter, and when her laughing subsided, she said, gasping every few words or so, “Okay, you, you’ve got to stop making me do that.”
“In all seriousness, though, why would anypony make jokes about you?”
“Well, when I first started learning how to sail, sailors still believed that mares on boats were bad luck, so ponies used to joke about my ‘terrible’ sailing or about some inevitable disaster that will one day befall my ship,” Scarlet sighed, her voice full of hurt and resentment. “Every now and then, I still hear jokes like that from other sailors. When ponies aren’t making fun about that, they’re making fun of my friendship with Cinnamon.”
“You know, I’m actually surprised,” Punch replied. “Why aren’t you and Lord Cinnamon an item?”
Scarlet stared at him with a look that communicated an impending punch to the face.
“I’m not saying that you two should be an item,” Punch raised his hooves defensively. “It’s just…a lovely, spirited mare such as yourself, a strapping, swashbuckling young stallion such as Lord Cinnamon, spending a lot of time together on a boat for days on end. It sounds like a setup for a trashy romance novel.”
“Look, I’m not saying that Cinnamon’s a bad choice for a husband,” Scarlet clarified. “He’d make any mare in Equestria happy, but we’re too much like siblings to find each other attractive.”
“Meaning the two of you annoy the living daylights out of each other whenever you’re not talking about your feelings,” Punch smirked.
Scarlet sighed in melancholy. “Look, if it makes you feel any better, I’ve got nothing against jokes. I’m just, just tired of being treated like one.”
“Well, if it makes you feel any better, you are most definitely, completely not a joke.”
“You really think so?” asked Scarlet, brightening a bit.
“Of course, besides, jokes are supposed to be funny.”
Scarlet giggled for a bit before realization hit her. “Hey!” she cried.
“What? It’s just a fact,” Punch stated. “It’s not like your any less amazing or accomplished if you’re not funny.”
“Well, okay, funny guy, I guess since you’re the funny one that makes YOU the joke then, huh?”
“No, being funny makes me a comedian, not a joke, and before you ask, yes, there’s a difference. Comedians make ponies laugh because they find spreading laughter fulfilling. Jokes are laughed at just for existing.”
Scarlet smiled, pushing a lock of her brilliant red mane from her face. Punch smiled back before he suddenly averted his eyes in a rather unprecedented bout of shyness. The two of them walked back to the castle in silence, uncertain of what to say to each other. Unbeknownst to them, they had slowly been stepping closer and closer to each other as they walked, and by the time they reached the castle gates, the two of them were close enough to touch hooves if they wanted.
Before they passed through the gates, however, Punch began snickering to himself, attracting Scarlet’s curiosity.
“What?” Scarlet asked.
“You want to know a secret?” Punch replied.
Scarlet raised an eyebrow at him quizzically and pursed her lips in thought. What kind of secret could Punch possibly want to share with her? She slowly nodded and turned her ear towards him. Punch leaned over and whispered into something into her ear. Something that probably shouldn’t be repeated in the presence of children or respectable company.
Scarlet let loose an uncontrollable guffaw and clutched her sides. “Oh, sweet Faust, I should not be laughing that,” she managed to squeak out between laughs.
“It’s funny because it’s probably true,” Punch said matter-of-factly.
“Stop!” Scarlet cried as a second wave of laughter rolled out of her.
In the present, Scarlet was once again laughing heartily as she recalled the memory. Love Tap and Cinnamon Swirl laughed along with her despite not knowing what she found so funny.
“Okay, I was wondering what it was about Punch that you found attractive, but I think I get it now,” said Cinnamon. “Punch was the first stallion you met who didn’t make you feel like you had a lot to prove.”
“By the way,” Punch added. “You never did tell me who the sailors who made fun of you were.”
“So many ponies have made fun of me that I don’t think I can possibly remember them all,” Scarlet replied, “but the ones I have never forgotten were my cousins. They were the worst!”
Many, many years earlier, an eleven-year-old Scarlet Plume lay asleep in her bed, dreaming of sailing out on the open ocean. The sky was a brilliant yet gentle blue with nary a cloud in sight. The wind billowed in her sails mightily as the waves lapped against the hull of her ship. Overhead, gulls were squawking and shrieking.
Suddenly, one of the gulls looked at her in the eye and said, “Scarlet! Get up! You’re late!”
Scarlet awoke with a start. She could hear her mother calling her from downstairs. Scarlet groaned but dragged herself out of bed and headed down the stairs.
“Hey, Mom, sorry I’m late,” Scarlet greeted.
“Sorry isn’t going to get the cloth woven,” Amber Braid said to her daughter. “First things first though, Dad needs help making the rope.”
“On it.”
Scarlet trotted over to a workshop where her father Golden Yarn was working on a hoof-powered machine that wound fibers into rope. Scarlet positioned herself at another rope making machine and got to work as well. She came from a family of weavers and rope-makers and was expected to follow in their hoofsteps. She had an uncle on her mother’s side who was a sailor, and she wanted more than anything for him to teach her how to sail, but that was probably not going to happen. Mares were considered bad luck for boats, and no sailor in his right mind would let one set hoof on his ship.
Scarlet worked as quickly as she could, taking care not to sacrifice quality for speed. The sooner she was finished, the faster she can sneak away. When she had finished weaving the last bolt of fabric, she rushed out the door.
“Going out. Back later. Bye,” Scarlet hurriedly called as she left, and before anypony could stop her, she was already racing towards the coast. She stopped when she reached a dinghy that was idly parked at the beach.
“About time you showed up,” her friend Cinnamon Swirl greeted her.
“Like you’ve never showed up late before,” Scarlet retorted.
Cinnamon came from a long line of scribes and royal advisers and was being trained to continue his family’s legacy. Although he showed great promise in dealing with matters of state, his true passion lay in voyaging. Cinnamon Swirl wanted more than anything to go off on an adventure, discovering new lands, exploring uncharted waters, and maybe even helping ponies along the way. Perhaps, Cinnamon and Scarlet were such good friends because they both desired the freedom to follow their own dreams.
Every day, the two of them would meet at the beach, and the two of them would practice sailing using the dinghy and any sailing books Cinnamon found. Of course, they never actually pushed the boat out into the water. They could get in big trouble if anything went wrong. Sometimes, they would even make believe going on all sorts of fantastic adventures.
“And so the two intrepid explorers set off on their epic journey, following the pungent smell of discovery,” Cinnamon narrated as Scarlet adjusted the sails. “The water was still, too still. Who knows what kinds of strange beasts and creatures lurk in these unknown waters? Suddenly—”
THUMP! Cinnamon was cut off by the sound of something hitting the side of the boat. Scarlet leaned her head over to investigate. Something massive landed inches away from her, spraying sand all over her face. Scarlet recoiled from the spray, sputtering in surprise and disgust. She looked up and turned her head to the sound of mean-spirited laughter not far from where she and Cinnamon were.
“Don’t you two have anything better to do?!” she screamed at two older colts, her cousins.
“Actually, we do,” said Tidal Wave with his dark brown coat and slick blue mane, “but we kindly decided to take time out of our busy schedules to do you a favor.”
“Yeah,” agreed Rock Cod with his red-brown coat and curly black mane. “We’re pulling you back into reality.”
“Where mares don’t sail because they make terrible things happen to boats.”
“If she ever takes a boat out to water, the boat would probably sink before it even leaves the coast,” laughed Rock Cod.
“It wouldn’t just sink. It’d probably spontaneously break into pieces,” Tidal joked back.
“No, wait. I got it. The entire hull would disintegrate like wet paper.”
The two colts went on their way, laughing and making even more jokes about what disaster Scarlet will inevitably bring to any boat she dares sail on. Scarlet growled in anger as she got off the boat, scowling as her cousins’ words rang in her head. She gave the sand a violent kick before she sat down and stared out into the horizon.
“I've been staring at the edge of the water/Long as I can remember/Never really knowing why,” sang Scarlet, gazing with longing at the ships docked in the harbor. “I wish I could be the perfect daughter/But I come back to the water/No matter how hard I try”
Scarlet got up and paced crossly back and forth along the shore. “Every turn I take, every trail I track/Every path I make, every road leads back/To the place I know where I cannot go/Where I long to be”
Cinnamon got up from the boat and put an empathetic hoof on Scarlet’s shoulder. The wind picked up, causing the waves to crash more loudly and violently along the beach.
Scarlet sang as she thrusted an arm towards the place where the ocean touched the sky, “See the line where the sky meets the sea/It calls me/And no one knows/How far it goes/If the wind in my sail on the sea/Stays behind me/One day, I'll know/If I go, there's just no telling how far I'll go”
Cinnamon Swirl half-pulled, half-pushed her back toward the dinghy where the two of them continued practicing different sailing maneuvers. Scarlet adjusted the sails while Cinnamon took control of the rudder. The ropes in her hooves reminded Scarlet of her parents and their expectations for her.
“I know everypony in this kingdom/Seems so happy in this kingdom/Everything is by design,” Scarlet continued, thinking about her parents and their shop. “I know everypony in this kingdom/Has a role in this kingdom/So maybe I can roll with mine”
Cinnamon rolled his eyes with a despondent sigh. He knew his friend couldn’t be happy living the rest of her days as a weaver any more than he could be happy being a scribe. Their hearts were riding the waves all the way past the horizon, and they will never be satisfied with anything less.
“I can weave with pride/I can make ropes strong/I'll be satisfied if I play along,” Scarlet stepped out of the boat and began heading home, but she stopped and turned around just as she was about to leave the beach. “But the voice inside/Sings a different song/What is wrong with me?”
She suddenly sprinted back to the boat and jumped on, grabbing the mast as she did so. “See the light as it shines on the sea/It's blinding/But no one knows/How deep it goes/And it seems like it's calling out to me/So come find me/And let me know/What's beyond that line?/Will I cross that line?”
In a moment of total impulsivity, Scarlet got off the boat and pushed it towards the water. Cinnamon’s eyes widened in shock as he realized what she was doing.
“Uh, Scarlet?” Cinnamon asked, his voice shaking as his eyes darted between his friend and the ocean that they were approaching at an alarming speed.
Scarlet ignored him and kept pushing, using her wings to propel the boat into the water. “The line where the sky meets the sea/It calls me/And no one knows/How far it goes/If the wind in my sail on the sea/Stays behind me/One day, I'll know/How far I'll GOOOOO!”
Scarlet jumped on to the boat as it hit the water. She quickly threw on a life jacket, released the sail, and grabbed an oar which she used to paddle the boat farther and farther into the sea. Cinnamon, on the other hoof, simply clung to the mast disbelievingly taking in his surroundings.
When the boat was a good distance away from the shore. Scarlet raised the oar into the air defiantly and shouted. “I am Scarlet Plume of Coltugal. Aboard my boat, I will sail across the sea. There’s a million things I haven’t done yet, but JUST. YOU. WAIT!”
“You have officially LOST YOUR MIND!” Cinnamon shouted back, still clinging to the mast. He groaned as he looked back at the coast, realizing how far away from it the two of them were.
“Come on, you big baby,” Scarlet chided. “Isn’t this what you’ve always wanted, to go out on a boat in search of adventure?”
“Yeah, on a bigger boat with somepony who actually knows how to sail,” Cinnamon clarified.
“I know how to sail.”
“Scarlet, knowing how to sail because you’ve read the instructions and went through the motions a couple of times is COMPLETELY different from actually being able to do it out in the water.”
“We just need to go one direction then the other a few times and then head back to shore. We’ll prove to my cousins that I’m not bad luck and convince my uncle to teach me how to sail.”
“It never occurred to you to just ask. Maybe your uncle isn’t as superstitious as the other sailors are.”
“I’m not taking that chance.”
“Yet, you’re perfectly fine taking this one even though it’s a lot more dangerous.”
Scarlet opened her mouth but then closed it again, silently cursing her friend’s logic. “Just take care of the rudder. We’ll be fine.”
At that moment, a strange PLOOOP noise was heard coming from the floor. Scarlet and Cinnamon looked down and saw that the boat had a small leak that was slowly letting water seep in.
“Well, that’s unfortunate,” Cinnamon deadpanned.
Scarlet panicked for a second, her thoughts vacillating from certain death to certain humiliation. If she couldn’t fix this, she’d either die or get made fun of for the rest of eternity, and she wasn’t sure which was worse. She took a deep breath to calm herself and looked around the boat for something to plug the leak with. All she found was a second life jacket, a bucket, the oar, and a coil of rope. Okay, the situation obviously called for some creative thinking. Well, the leak wouldn’t be a problem if she could just keep the boat afloat long enough for them to reach shore.
Thinking fast, Scarlet took off her own life jacket and lashed it together with the other one using the ties. Then, she cut a few lengths of rope and used them to extend the free ties. She handed one end to Cinnamon and said, “Hold this.”
Cinnamon did as he was told, wondering what crazy idea his friend thought up this time. Holding the other end of her long floatation aid, Scarlet jumped off the boat, swam under, and resurfaced up the other side much to her friend’s relief.
“Tie the ends together as tight as you can. Quick,” Scarlet ordered, handing Cinnamon her end of rope. Scarlet clambered back on while Cinnamon knotted the two ends together. The boat was still leaking, but the good news was that it wasn’t sinking anymore.
“That was actually pretty smart,” Cinnamon complimented before he got hit in the face with the bucket.
“You bail. I row,” Scarlet commanded, taking hold of the oar.
Cinnamon rolled his eyes but began bailing the water out anyway. Scarlet paddled the boat towards the shore with long even strokes, supplementing her rowing by using her wings to blow wind into their sail. The two of them managed to make it back to the coast, but instead of landing at the beach, they ended up pulling into the harbor instead. Who should be waiting for them but the two ponies Scarlet wanted to see the least?
Tidal Wave doubled over in laughter. “You actually took a boat out into the water! Ha! Ha! And it sprung a leak!”
“Told you mares were bad luck!” Rock Cod snickered.
Scarlet and Cinnamon got off the dinghy, slightly damp but otherwise unharmed. Scarlet scowled at her still laughing cousins, suppressing the urge to cause them grievous bodily harm. Cinnamon put a hoof on her shoulder.
“Come on, Scarlet. Let’s just go,” he huffed, pulling her towards town.
“Hold on just a land-lubbing minute,” called a voice from one of the ships. Soon after, a stallion with a light seafoam green coat and a red mane and beard swung down from the yardarm on a rope, landing rather spectacularly on the deck. The stallion quickly jumped off the boat onto the dock and raced towards Scarlet and Cinnamon.
“Hey, Uncle Crimson,” Scarlet muttered in greeting.
“Hey, yerself,” replied Captain Crimson Tide, cheerfully. “Why the long face?”
“See for yourself.” Scarlet pointed at the leaky dinghy, still being held afloat by her improvised flotation method.
Captain Crimson studied the vessel carefully before turning to reply to his niece, “I’m no detective, but it seems to me that ye ran into a problem out at sea and used yer wits to keep yerselves afloat.”
“That’s pretty much what happened,” Cinnamon acknowledged.
Despite her uncle’s rather positive interpretation of the events that transpired, Scarlet scowled. She just threw away her only shot of ever learning how to sail. Never mind that her uncle had just called her smart. She was through. What good is wit when all you are is a disaster waiting to happen?
“Say,” said Crimson Tide. “How’d ye like me to teach ye how to really sail?”
“What?” Scarlet cried in surprise.
“What?!” her cousins also responded.
“Ye heard me,” Captain Crimson replied.
“But what about—?” Tidal Wave began.
“Oh, stuff and nonsense. When I was yer age, ponies used to say that red manes were bad luck fer ships, but I didn’t listen.”
“Wait,” Scarlet began, “but what about my parents?”
“Ye let me handle yer parents. Ye just git here bright and early tomorrow mornin’.”
“Thanks, Uncle.” Scarlet quickly hugged the captain before she and Cinnamon headed back to town.
Eight years passed, and in that time, Scarlet quickly rose up the ranks of her uncle’s crew. She was even made first mate, much to her cousins’ jealousy and humiliation. Despite her progress, her and Cinnamon’s dream of adventure and discovery seemed as far away as ever. But one day…
“Shut up!” Scarlet cried.
“I’m serious,” Cinnamon replied. He sighed. “Do I have to repeat the whole thing again?”
“Yes. Make sure you use the prince’s exact words this time.”
“Okay. So, this morning, Prince West Wind comes to see me about something. He says to me, ‘Cinnamon Swirl, I’m just going to come out and say it. I would like to commission you to go on a voyage.’ I say, ‘Really? But why?’ Then, he says, “Well, it would give us a chance to discover new resources and maybe form alliances and trade agreements with new countries. Besides, my brother and I heard rumors that Great Braytain and Itaily are planning on getting into the voyaging game. Of course, Stallionavia has been ahead of us for years. If we want Coltugal to stay on the map, we’ve got to put ourselves out there and make history.’”
“And the prince decided to commission you of all ponies because?”
“It turns out that everypony in the royal court knows about my ‘secret’ dream to go voyaging,” Cinnamon giggled sheepishly. “I guess, the prince thought he’d give me a shot at going after it. He’s even giving me a title to go with the commission. If everything falls into place, ponies are going to be calling me Lord Cinnamon Swirl from now on.”
“Does the prince already have a ship and a crew ready for you, or are you going to have to drum them up yourself?”
“Prince West Wind is taking care of the ship. I’m going to be taking care of the crew, and guess who my first choice for captain is?” Cinnamon smirked at her hintingly.
“My uncle?”
“No! You!”
“I was your first choice for captain?”
“Yes!”
“Did you tell anyone else?”
“Just Prince West Wind.”
“I’m sure he gave you the USUAL objections, did he not?” Scarlet spat bitterly.
“Well, not out loud.”
Scarlet scoffed and rolled her eyes, ready to storm away.
“What’s all this about?” asked Captain Crimson, stepping forward to join them.
“Cinnamon Swirl got a voyaging commission from Prince West Wind and is asking me to be captain,” Scarlet answered.
“Did he now?” The captain crossed arms and eyed Cinnamon sternly.
“Umm, yes?” Cinnamon replied nervously.
“Well, then, what are ye waiting for?” Crimson Tide exclaimed, addressing his niece.
“But Uncle, what about—?” Scarlet began.
“If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a hundred times. Stuff and nonsense! Ye take this opportunity, and ye gonna blow us all away, ye are.”
“And my position as your first mate?”
“Yer cousins have been eyeing it since the first day I gave it to ye. Yer lucky they didn’t try to ship ye to Prance.”
Scarlet gave a contemplative sigh before turning to her friend. “Where does Prince West Wind have the ship docked?”
“Well, what do you think?” asked Cinnamon proudly after he and Scarlet got a good look at the ship.
In a cross tone, Scarlet answered, “I’ve checked this miserable ship from stern to stern, and…” She paused, her face softening. “Prince West Wind really knows how to get a good ship.”
“It’s just missing a name.”
“Let me name it, and I’ll captain this ship to the ends of Equestria.” Scarlet extended her hoof towards Cinnamon.
“Deal.” Cinnamon shook it before pointing elsewhere. “There’s a plaque and a paintbrush over there. Afterwards, you can nail it on the ship.”
Scarlet made her way to where the plaque was, carefully thinking of a name. Once she thought of a fitting name, she meticulously painted it on the plaque and proudly nailed it on the ship.
“The S.S. Destiny?” Cinnamon questioned, skeptically.
“Great name, huh?” Scarlet replied, cheerfully oblivious.
“But, why that name in particular?”
“Because I want to go wherever destiny takes me,” Scarlet declared dramatically.
“That’s a terrible pun,” Cinnamon deadpanned.
“Shut up.”
In the present day, Punch gave his wife a knowing look and said, “Okay, now I know that your cousins were definitely—”
“Hey!” Scarlet cut him off, gesturing to Love Tap and Cinnamon Swirl. “Not in front of the royals!”
“You know it’s true.”
“Stop!” Scarlet squealed before dissolving into laughs.